New Anambra State deputy governor, Dr. Nkem Okeke, said yesterday, in Awka, that governments of Anambra and Kogi would soon resolve the lingering border skirmishes between the oil rich border communities in the two states.
Despite the efforts of the National Boundary Commission and the governments of the two states to ensure that peace returned to the area, hostilities broke out a fortnight ago during which six people who sustained injuries on the Anambra side were admitted at Otuocha
General Hospital.
Property worth millions of naira were also destroyed at the site of Orient Petroleum Resources at Aguleri Otu in Anambra East Local Government Area.
The attackers were said to be from Odeke in Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State, who allegedly scared security operatives guarding the oil refinery before setting fire on equipment belonging to Nigercat Construction Company working at the refinery site.
Describing the continued hostility at the refinery site as unfortunate, Okeke, whose office oversees boundary matters, told newsmen in his office that the resolution of the matter was a top priority of Chief Willie Obiano’s administration in the state.
Okeke said it was unfortunate that the people laying claims to the oil deposits in the area kept quiet until investors from Anambra State established a refinery at Aguleri Otu in Anambra State.
According to him, the present administration in the state will do everything within the law to ensure that people from both states live in peace to ensure a conducive business climate needed for the refinery to function.
He said as the deputy governor of the state, his duty was to assist the governor to succeed, adding that as a man of integrity, Governor Obiano was fully prepared to serve the people of Anambra State.